20071031

Who is wrong?This is a question at the end of a story book.It's the school's selection of books for home reading. The story is about a mouse who finds a cake on a table.It jumps up & eats. It's so happy that it begins to sing.And, the mouse's songs arouses a cat's attention.The mouse eventually runs away with it's long tail broken.There are a couples of questions on the final page. But this question really bothers me.Shall we condemn the mouse stealing?Is it wrong to be too happy & excited when you have something really nice?Or, the mouse is not alert enough?I don't know the answer and I don't want to provide an answer.I keep silent on what I'm thinking, just ask iza what she thinks." The cat is wrong. It hurts the mouse." Iza said.I don't think Iza gets the "right" answer but she's sweet.

This afternoon, iza is working with her new school book.She needs to put the stickers under the right catagories.When she picks up the party hat sticker, she hesitates.She put it under the round shapes." It is round, not triangular!"Iza said.But the sticker is cut into a triangular shape. I guess the "model" answer should be triangle.Iza get a sensible observation & reasoning.A cone is neither a circle nor a triangle.Don't they think a kid of 4Y will question this??

20071030

"Lower is better!"Iza said when we were going down the escalator one day last week."Why?" I puzzled."When we fall, we only fall downwards, we will not fall upwards.It's safe at the lower side." Iza explained.When we settled down. I told her," There was a guy whom also noticed that things only fall down, don't fall 'up'. And, he asked why.He eventually discovered one of the law of Nature. He's Newton...""Is Newton God??"Iza asked.The air was filled with laughters.

20071015

Last Friday,Iza asked,"Mommy, do you know how to see with your brain?""...I don't know........" "Just dream!" she laughed.I shared this with ziggy.The next day, ziggy chatted with iza about dreams......................................................................"You don't need to be asleep to dream!" iza said.

One day in this summer, inside a toy shop, Iza asked," Mommy, can I have clay? No instructions are needed when playing with clay..."I wondered what things are instructions required.Then I asked." I don't know..." she said."What things you play with are without any instructions??" I asked."Clay, paper, pencil...I don't know..." I am amazed. I never think this way. I can never be so conscious to classify what allows more freedom.

Iza starts Lego class since this August. The first 3 lessons, she needed to build objects according to instructions.She loves Lego. But these pieces were too small for her.She could not grab the single units & hold them firmly. She could not manage to stick the pieces together. And, she found reading instruction sheets difficult.On the 4th lesson, she was allowed to build her own piece!!She always wants to create.After one & a half hour, I was invited to see her creation.The above was her first created piece. It was a 3 storey bus.It was built of 12 identical pieces.Every 3 pieces piled into a bigger piece.There were 4 big pieces. They were only connected by a single rod.Therefore, the 4 pieces could rotate separately.Then attached the 4 wheels.The middle 2 pieces were serving like see-saw.When one side was lowered, passenger could get on.Then,the passenger would be raised to the top of the bus!When she found that the passeger was difficult to sit on, she added a yellow piece on the top to stablize the structure.Then, she tried to add more wheels...I think I cannot make a more simple design that serve so many functions.This bus can go onto rocky roads because the 4 wheels are attached separately to the vehicle.Her second creation.In some classes, there are no final products.She is just exploring how the parts of Lego works.It was a triangle - a musical instrument. She created it this Monday.

This Monday, Iza came to me and asked for help.She said that she couldn't make it. There was always a hole." One piece is lost. Go and find it." I said."No..." Iza said.I counted. There were 7 pieces. None was missed.I wondered.The wooden box is nicely designed for the tangram. It fits.Within the box, how could she create a "square" with a hole?" Is the total area always the same? Where is the area of this extra triangle come from??"We are excited to find that the extra space is gained from the peripheral allowance of the box.Iza continued to explore how many holes she could create...2007

This was our first time in Milan Furniture Fair after 15 years of design practice in Hong Kong. Precious moments were not what we eventually saw so many world class designs, but, iza was curious on everything.